Chernobyl radiation may boost thyroid disease

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Must be Eastern European nuclear news day!

Friday September 4 1:40 PM EDT 

Chernobyl radiation may boost thyroid disease

LONDON, Sep 04 (Reuters) -- Young people who were children 
when they were exposed to radioactive fallout from the
Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 may be at risk of developing 
autoimmune thyroid diseases, including hypothyroidism,
according to a multinational research team.

A study of nearly 500 children who were in their mother's womb or 
less than 9 years old at the time of the disaster shows no
evidence of thyroid dysfunction in these young people. But those 
who had the heaviest radiation exposure often have a high
level of antibodies to the thyroid gland, and could develop thyroid 
disease in the future, according to the research team, led by
Dr. Furio Pacini of the University of Pisa in Italy. The investigators 
report their findings in the September 5th issue of The
Lancet.

In their study, Pacini and colleagues looked for medical problems 
and the presence of thyroid antibodies in two groups of
children. The first group of 287 children were exposed to heavy 
radioactive concentrations at the time of the accident. The
second group of 208 had only negligible exposure. Their 
investigations took place between 1992 and 1994, or between 6 and
8 years after the disaster.

The researchers found that 19.5% of the exposed group showed 
the presence of either of two thyroid autoantibodies,
antithyroglobulin or antithyroperoxidase, or both. This compared 
with a rate of only 3.8% for the children with only a small
radioactive exposure.

The researchers say that although no evidence of thyroid 
dysfunction was found, the presence of thyroid antibodies suggests
that clinicians should be alert to the development of hypothyroidism 
in this group of people.

They also note that 10 years after Chernobyl, ``a very large 
increase'' in the number of cases of thyroid cancers and a large
increase in the number of benign tumors of the thyroid have been 
noted in children living in areas exposed to the release of
''huge'' amounts of radioactive iodine isotopes released from the 
damaged reactor.

SOURCE: The Lancet 1998;352:763-765. 

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
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sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

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